Thomson

It’s a heck of a way to run a pre-election campaign. On the eve of an expected election, politicians usually spend their time playing up good news, downplaying the bad, shaking hands and kissing babies.

After consulting with its insurance company, the Lethbridge School District No. 51 pulled its lone team out of the upcoming cheerleading championships at the West Edmonton Mall. The school board said its insurance company thought “it was prudent” to issue a four-week travel warning, advising the school and its students to stay away from the West Edmonton Mall after the recent threat of terrorism.

When RCMP Const. Leo Johnston was shot dead in Mayerthorpe 10 years ago, Lee Johnston lost half of himself. That’s how the identical twin, also an RCMP officer, describes the murder of his brother, killed alongside three other RCMP officers in the worst mass killing of Mounties in modern Canadian history.

In a once vacant lot on the south edge of Mayerthorpe stands four life-size bronze statues of constables Brock Myrol, Anthony Gordon, Leo Johnston and Peter Schiemann. The solemn figures surround a centre monument topped with skyward doves, honouring all Canadians who have died while wearing a uniform. Each officer stands on guard in a different position according to his length of service and faces a different direction, toward his hometown or his first posting.

A decade ago, Rev. Don Schiemann felt like his arm was ripped off. It’s the starkest way the 63-year-old can describe the 10 years since his son, Const. Peter Schiemann, was killed in the line of duty. His grief began with the shock and pain of a sudden, vicious wound, followed by rough years of scars and scabs. He’s lived through months of pain and recovery.

St. Albert city council has released an 864-page report with recommendations to improve student safety in and around school zones after a six-year-old boy was killed on his way to school in 2013. The Safe Journeys to School Final Consultant’s Report includes short and long-term strategies focusing on engineering, education, enforcement and encouragement for the city, St. Albert schools, the RCMP and school districts.

The mother who abused, starved and neglected her infant twin girls until one died and another barely recovered should serve 25 years in prison, a prosecutor argued Monday. Although the 37-year-old mother pleaded guilty to manslaughter in July 2014, her sentencing hearing heard she has since denied all responsibility in a psychiatric evaluation.

The Alberta government is redefining public-sector labour relations with an overhaul of the province’s collective bargaining model and a new approach to essential services, Premier Jim Prentice announced Monday. A new working group, spearheaded by Alberta Justice deputy minister Tim Grant, is charged with creating a co-ordinated and long-term approach to public-sector labour negotiations, Prentice said during a lunchtime speech in Edmonton to the Rotary Club at the Sutton Place Hotel.

Uber says it has rejected eight currently licensed taxi drivers in Edmonton because they could not pass the company’s background checks. Uber included the information in a court filing made in advance of its hearing Tuesday. The documents spell out for the first time what requirements the company has for prospective drivers.

A leaked ministerial memo revealed Monday the agency that protects Albertans from unscrupulous car dealers is allegedly conducting biased investigations and abusing its powers under the law. The letter, released by the Wildrose opposition, shows an internal government investigation found multiple “serious” concerns, including unjust conduct of investigations and “misuse” of penalties.

A 21-year-old Edmonton driver who drunkenly traded seats with his friend shortly before he crashed into a tree at high speeds was given a 90-day jail sentence Monday. In October, Kelton James Rossi pleaded guilty to three counts of impaired driving causing bodily harm after the May 2013 crash nearly killed one of his passengers.

RCMP are looking for a senior citizen who fled a Canadian Tire in St. Albert after running into three employees while having the windshield wiper blades changed on his car. One of the employees received minor injuries, and the other two were not hurt.

An Edmonton street artist has painted a portrait mural of Leonard Nimoy on one of Edmonton’s legal graffiti walls in Old Strathcona. Nimoy, best known for his role as Spock in the Star Trek TV series and movies, died Friday at 83.

New Alberta NDP Leader Rachel Notley got a large dose of inspiration Sunday from Olivia Chow, widow of Jack Layton, who took his party to official Opposition status in the last federal election. Like Layton, Notley has an uphill battle in the provincial election expected this spring after Premier Jim Prentice introduces the budget this month.

Police were investigating after two men were seriously injured Sunday in a single-vehicle crash on Anthony Henday Drive. An Audi A4 lost control travelling westbound on the Henday south of the bridge between 184th Street and Terwillegar Drive at about 4:50 p.m., crossed over to the eastbound lanes and struck a light pole, the Edmonton Police Service said in a news release.

The hardest part of watching her church in Thorhild burn to the ground Saturday was watching the crosses in the domes collapse. That, and watching her husband, who was baptized in the landmark Ukrainian Orthodox church, help the firefighters with the hoses, Kelly Feledichuk said.

People in Alberta’s Somali community will hear their own stories in their own voices on a Somali-language television news program airing Sundays, says the show’s host. The half-hour Omni television show, called Somalis in Alberta, started in September. Organizers hope to expand the Somali-language program to an hour-long show, said Jaamac, 38, who does not use a last name. Somalis in Alberta is looking for a venue that could hold 60 to 80 people for a talk-show format, said Jaamac, who also hosts a radio show on CJSR called Somalis in Edmonton.

Stew Hennig was startled awake early in the morning March 4, 1960, as a huge fireball barrelled over his family’s farm near Josephburg, a tiny hamlet just east of Edmonton. “I remember it is as clear as yesterday,” says Hennig, 63, a member of the city council in Fort Saskatchewan. “It was low enough that it shook the house and lit my bedroom up as it passed.

On the night the Wildrose party picks a new leader, Danielle Smith will likely be watching and waiting to see if she’s won — but in a different contest, for a different party. The Tory candidate nomination in Smith’s Highwood riding has been called for March 28, the same day as the Wildrose leadership vote, the […]

A peaceful protest by pro-choice demonstrators is scheduled at the University of Alberta this week after a pro-life student group notified people it will put up pictures of aborted fetuses in a large outdoor area on campus. “Our central concern is that this installation and these images may create an unsafe and triggering environment for students on campus who have terminated pregnancies or considered doing so,” fourth-year student and protest organizer Zoe Chaytors, said in a written statement. “We respect the right of Go Life (student group) to free speech and their right to bring this project to campus. However, we feel that the university should have been more conscientious of the timing and location of their event.”

Twelve cheerleading teams have pulled out of a cheerleading competition at West Edmonton Mall next weekend over fears of a recent terrorism threat to the mall. But Denise Fisher, executive director of the Alberta Cheerleading Association, said she has confidence in the safety of the March 6-8 event and the remaining 160 or so teams from B.C. to Ontario.

Edmonton playwright Vern Thiessen was sitting in a Los Angeles deli having lunch with his friend, Leonard Nimoy, when their server suddenly recognized the Star Trek star. “I’m so sorry, but I have to ask you. Do you play Spock?” he asked, blushing.

Three Wildrose leadership candidates blasted the governing Progressive Conservatives for fiscal mismanagement and breaking Albertans’ trust. They are promising a strong fight from Wildrose in an expected spring election.

A controversial Alberta law that imposes indefinite licence suspensions on accused drunk drivers has been upheld as constitutional. In a written decision issued Friday, Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Thomas Wakeling denied an application from a group of Alberta motorists to strike down a section of the Traffic Safety Amendment Act.

When Vernon Devam looks at his empty Edmonton warehouse, he envisions a “perpetual garden.” In one room, marijuana seeds and plant cuttings will develop roots in custom-built aeroponic trays. They’ll then move to the “vegetation room,” where hundreds of plants will grow under 1,000-watt lamps. From there, they’ll mature in “bloom rooms,” where plants will reach the 12-foot ceilings.

It might look like smoke from a fire shooting out of LRT air vents early Sunday and Monday, but the city says passersby shouldn’t be alarmed. Edmonton Transit staff will testing the fan system in the downtown LRT tunnels near Churchill, Central and MacEwan stations from about 1 a.m. to 4:30 a.m.